Lol well I know a lot of us liked Gooden, but dammit we better take Okafor or maybe Cornelius Washington soon tomorrow!

I'm sure Gooden can contribute right away on ST's. He's probably the backup to Brown (still would probably rather have seen a backup to Ayers taken if we can find someone similar). But I wonder if they would put Gooden in for some nickle snaps. He and Brown could offer super athleticism to defend the pass, as McCarthy is not the best athlete and Ayers could be rushing.

Trying to see what our thought process is with this pick, just thinking out loud. Last year we were stuck with Tim Shaw playing quite a bit after McCarthy and Diles went down. Ayers is better when he's moving forward as opposed to backwards. This appears to be an upgrade to our depth and like p2w said, maybe a guy that can play in the nickel if McCarthy goes down or even if he gets nicked up and is limited.

I heard that Sylvester Stallone wrote The Expendables with The Alex in mind. He had to keep it realistic though and split The Alex's abilities into multiple characters. Stallone thought that critics would pan it for being too far-fetched if he just had one character effing everyone up.

Well if we just have to find a way to get Gooden on the field...press corner!

But as much as I don't see this as a traditional need, at least this gives Williams/Gray another toy to play with. We've traditionally keep two of our "starting" LB's in for the nickle, but I've seen other teams have kinda specialized nickle LB's. Maybe they want to go that way. I really like what I've seen of Gooden, just didn't think of him as a need they'd pick this high. But if they can have two guys who can be used like Brown was last year, it can help in coverage and maybe blitzing too...maybe that's one reason DE isn't looked at as that high of a need?

Just please don't take till the end of his 2nd season to get everything out of him (Ayers).

Webster's quote was that he's similar to Zach Brown and that you can't have enough good, fast linebackers.

I really hope we cut Ayers loose and let him rush a lot more this year. One thought is, if he does rush more often, he's gonna play fewer snaps due to being more winded than he would in a traditional LB role. That could be a spot where Gooden could step in as well.

He'll be a 4th LB/Nickel LB. A guy who will come in with Brown on passing downs, and allow Ayers to put his hand on the ground. He'll also backup all three LB spots, although his best fit is at WLB. He's also a good player with a unique skill set. A guy like that obviously has value. Especially for us, considering how we've had so many guys fill that role, such as Gerald McRath, Will Witherspoon, and Zac Diles.

This pick is fine if we sign a 3rd DE in FA. But not only did we not, but we just put more value on a 4th LB than we do a 3rd DE by taking Gooden over Okafor. The only redeeming thing is that this move can make Ayers our 3rd DE, which could be their plan all along. But we still need another body at DE, and delaying it is just foolish. I think that's why most of us are shrugging. Great 4-3 DEFs are built around the DL, not the LB corps.

Well it looks like we still have some options. Okafor, Washington (they seem to like athletic freaks), Goodman, Edwards, Gholston, the DraftCountdown phenom Catapano...surely at least we grab one body in the next few rounds.

Or maybe we just believe we will give it all up to draft Clowney next year. Yay!

Obviously he will back up Brown as the WLB and should be a ST ace right off the bat. If McCarthy goes down we miss him a lot more in the nickel than we would as a MLB. 2 down MLBs are easy to find (and we have Fokou there). Nickel cover guys with athleticism are not. It also allows Ayers to focus on playing DE on passing downs.

It also seems like Gregg Williams is going to try to generate a lot of pressure with blitzing LBs and Gooden will be able to do that with his speed. I think he should see the field a decent amount next year.

This pick is fine if we sign a 3rd DE in FA. But not only did we not, but we just put more value on a 4th LB than we do a 3rd DE by taking Gooden over Okafor. The only redeeming thing is that this move can make Ayers our 3rd DE, which could be their plan all along. But we still need another body at DE, and delaying it is just foolish. I think that's why most of us are shrugging. Great 4-3 DEFs are built around the DL, not the LB corps.

This is the only thing that really bugs me about the selection, hopefully Okafor is still there in 10 picks and we can grab him up. I'm glad we trust our board, but man, we really like LBers. We've consistently ignored the DE position in the past 3 drafts. Gooden can play an exciting role in our defense, and Gooden and Brown at LBer in the nickel with Ayers at DE is an exciting idea.

There is an interesting thing I read that I have to wonder. I read earlier this offseason that Jerry Gray and Gregg Williams both liked to run 3 safety sets at times in the nickel. I have to wonder if Gooden was selected to substitute a safety in nickel packages. The 3rd safety usually covers the TE or a back, currently that would likely be Bernard Pollard, and the truth is that Gooden is faster than Pollard.

Right now, I do question the move, but I'm anxious to see how we utilize Gooden and I think it will turn into a good selection.

Akeem Ayers was a liability in pass coverage at times last season, and I have to wonder if a permanent move to DE has already been determined. Perhaps Gooden is a replacement at LBer rather than a backup/role player.

There is an interesting thing I read that I have to wonder. I read earlier this offseason that Jerry Gray and Gregg Williams both liked to run 3 safety sets at times in the nickel. I have to wonder if Gooden was selected to substitute a safety in nickel packages. The 3rd safety usually covers the TE or a back, currently that would likely be Bernard Pollard, and the truth is that Gooden is faster than Pollard.

This is the Ruby package that Williams loves to run and Gooden seems perfect for it. The 3rd saftey is basically a S/LB hybrid that either covers the TE/RB or blitzes. As a former safety, Gooden seems perfect for this role. I'm sure Pollard will get a good amount of time doing it this year, but I sort of expect Pollard to be gone at the end of the year.

Well it looks like we still have some options. Okafor, Washington (they seem to like athletic freaks), Goodman, Edwards, Gholston, the DraftCountdown phenom Catapano...surely at least we grab one body in the next few rounds.

There's still a lot of value on the board, I couldn't be mad at us taking value in the 4th, so here's a few guys of value other than at DE.

This is the Ruby package that Williams loves to run and Gooden seems perfect for it. The 3rd saftey is basically a S/LB hybrid that either covers the TE/RB or blitzes. As a former safety, Gooden seems perfect for this role. I'm sure Pollard will get a good amount of time doing it this year, but I sort of expect Pollard to be gone at the end of the year.

I think thats the norm really, I don't think anyone really expects him to be around for more than a year unless we don't have anyone else in place, he's only on a one year deal

Man, this offense has sooo much potential. Throw in some nice role players like Damian Williams, Shonn Greene, Craig Stevens....
It pretty much all rests on Locker's shoulders this season. Let's hope he rises to the occasion.

Man, this offense has sooo much potential. Throw in some nice role players like Damian Williams, Shonn Greene, Craig Stevens....
It pretty much all rests on Locker's shoulders this season. Let's hope he rises to the occasion.

I think Jake will do great with Palmer gone. Palmer was so bad, then by the time he got fired our O-Line sucked balls and our defense couldnt stop anybody so we were playing from behind which caused us to throw and our line sucked so Locker was getting killed and he was holding the ball too long so he was getting killed twiceover and o yeah did I mention our oline and defense sucked?